System and method for creating and displaying previews of content items for electronic works

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for displaying, responsive to user-designation of a desired set of media object previews for view, the previews of the media objects of an electronic content work within a single view on a display of a computer system. The view presents those previews of the media objects of the electronic content work appropriate for one or more target rendering environments, according to user-specified display criteria. The previews may be images of the media objects captured when the subject media objects were rendered in a simulated target rendering environment. In some cases, these may be images of the media objects captured with the media objects were in desired states during rendering thereof in the simulated target rendering environment. The view may present the previews according to user-defined size criteria.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings that form a part of thisdocument: Copyright Inkling Systems, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems and methods for creatingand displaying previews, for example in the form of images, of contentitems of electronic works, and in particular such displays as providefor one or more users, in a single screen view, the ability to quicklyreview and compare layouts, formats and other attributes of contentitems from a single work or multiple works so as to permit the user(s) aconvenient way to assess the content items as part of an editingprocess.

BACKGROUND

Development of traditional print media and other rich content (e.g.,textbooks, travel books, magazines, cookbooks, how-to books, literature,and the like) involves many tasks, including managing edits and theoverall publication process. Historically, these tasks have required theuse of hard copy proofs (e.g., galleys) that editors and others reviewand mark up. As print media have transitioned to electronic media, theediting process has remained relatively unchanged in terms of the toolsused by editors to review and revise the content. As such, publishersand others associated with new electronic media have not taken advantageof the flexibility that computer-based tools can bring to the publishingprocess.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In various embodiments, the present invention provides systems andmethods for displaying, responsive to user-designation of a desired setof media object previews for view, the previews of the media objects ofan electronic content work within a single view on a display of acomputer system. The view presents those previews of the media objectsof the electronic content work appropriate for one or more targetrendering environments, according to user-specified display criteria.The previews may be images of the media objects captured when thesubject media objects were rendered in a simulated target renderingenvironment. In some cases, these may be images of the media objectscaptured when the media objects were in desired states. For example,such states as existed when the media objects were rendered in thesimulated target rendering environment. The view may present thepreviews according to user-defined size criteria.

Responsive to user manipulation of at least one presentation criterionfor the previews, the view may be reformatted according to new one ormore user-defined presentation criteria and previews appropriate to thenew one or more user-defined presentation criteria presented on thedisplay of the computer system. The new one or more user-definedpresentation criteria may include one or more of a content work viewingmode, a target rendering environment size, a target renderingenvironment, a preview image size. In some instances, a notation may beassociated with one of the previews, the notation facilitating laterediting of an associated on one of the media objects and being indexedwith the preview at a fixed coordinate reference location thereof.

In further embodiments the present invention provides for displaying,within a single view on a display of a computer system, two or moregroupings of a set of image previews of related media objects of anelectronic content work. Each grouping may consist of respective imagepreviews formatted according to a target rendering environment for themedia objects, each respective target rendering environment beingdifferent. The invention further facilitates, responsive to user input,tagging of one or more of the previews within the view. Each targetrendering environment may represent a computer-based platform forpresenting the media objects.

These and further embodiments of the invention are described in greaterdetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments of the invention discussedin the present document.

FIGS. 1A-1C, 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B illustrate aspects of a user interfacefor a content creation and editing tool configured in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating aspects of a method of producingpreview images, according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a content creation and editing system,which may include user interface tools consistent with embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a processor-based system suitable for use inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for creating and displayingpreviews, for example in the form of images, of content items ofelectronic works. In particular, the present invention provides agraphical user interface with various viewing options so as to provideusers the ability to quickly review and compare layouts, formats andother attributes of content items from a single electronic work ormultiple such works, thereby permitting the user(s) a convenient way toassess the content items as part of an editing process. By “contentitems” we mean media objects that may be formatted according to avariety of computer-readable or interpretable formats, as described morefully below, and which include human perceptible (e.g., readable orrecognizable) content, such as text and/or images (either still ormoving). In some instances, content items may be “cards” or “mediacards”, which are instantiations of markup language, e.g., extensiblemarkup language (“XML”), hypertext markup language (“HTML”), or thelike, files. Such cards may include, among other things, one or moretext sections, one or more image sections, image captions, and headersections, all arranged in a desired order. A collection of related cardsmay form an electronic content work, for example an electronic book,magazine, article, etc., or a portion thereof, e.g., a section orchapter thereof, etc.

In U.S. patent application Ser. 13/353,180, filed 18 Jan. 2012, whichapplication is assigned to the assignee of the present invention andincorporated herein by reference, systems and methods for publishingelectronic content works are described. Included in the system areWYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, which are editinginterfaces in which the content displayed on the screen during editingappears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance in a targetrendering environment (e.g., a Web browser, reader application, mobiledevice web browser, etc.). While these interfaces are useful for editingfine details, sometimes an editor needs to view the content in adifferent form. For example, when an editor wishes to determine whetherthe content conforms to layout guidelines specified for the electronicwork under consideration, the editor needs to view several related pages(e.g., those which make up an entire chapter, an entire book, or evenchapters from different books that are included in a common collection)at a time. Further, the editor may need to determine whether the contentlayout will render properly (and, perhaps, similarly) in differentrendering environments on which it may be viewed (e.g., smart phones,tablet computers, desktop computers, etc.). Ideally, these views need tobe available quickly (for example more quickly than it may take anediting tool to render markup language version of multiple contentitems) so as not to distract the editor from his/her workflow. Thepresent invention facilitates such views and more.

In one embodiment then, the present invention provides a user interfacefor a computer-based publishing tool (or publishing environment) thatfacilitates a view of content items (such as cards) of one or moreelectronic works (such one or more electronic books, magazines, or otherwork(s) or portion(s) thereof). The content items may or may not berelated, and where related may be deemed related by any of a number ofcriteria, including but not limited to content, subject, topic,hierarchical organization of an electronic work, layout, or othercriteria. For example, content items may be related because they share acommon cascading style sheet (CSS) class or other criteria. In someinstances, the criterion (or criteria) for relating content items may bespecified by a user, such as an editor, but this is not a requirement.

Associated with the user interface is a rendering engine thatmanipulates content items produced by the publishing tool for displayaccording to user-selected target rendering environments. The targetrendering environments may include web browsers, electronic readerapplications, or other applications intended to execute on platformssuch as personal computers, tablet computers, smart phones or othercomputer-based devices. In some instances rendering environments may bespecified in terms of the target platform the content will be viewedupon, as selected from a menu of predetermined options.

The rendering engine is configured to produce previews of the contentitems, for example image previews, in the form in which the contentitems will be viewable by an end user in the target renderingenvironment. The previews are preferably images, for example, .pngfiles, .jpg files, etc., of the content items, but the rendering enginemay permit user manipulation of the content items within an environmentthat simulates the target rendering environment prior to the creation ofan image of the content item. This allows the user to interact withcontent items so as to ensure the content items are in a desired stateprior to the rendering engine producing the image previews.

For example, the rendering engine may be an environment that simulates atarget web browser executing on a target computer-based platform. TheSelenium™ integrated development environment is an example of such anenvironment. Content items may be submitted for display within theenvironment instantiated by the rendering engine and the user providedcursor control access thereto so as to allow the user to manipulatedynamic media elements (such as slideshow elements, sideline elements,guided tour elements, etc.) of the content items. When the user hasmanipulated the dynamic media elements so that the content items are ina desired state, the rendering engine may be instructed to produce apreview that captures that state in a static image (or other) format. Inthis way, media cards and other content items may be explored, and imagepreviews captured, for all possible states in all desired targetrendering environments.

FIG. 1A illustrates one example of a user interface (UI) 10 (e.g., asviewed in a window 12 of a web browser executing on a computer system)provided by a content creation and editing tool in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. In this example, previews of cards14 a-14 e, which together comprise a first chapter of an electronicwork, and 16 a-16 c, which together comprise a second chapter of theelectronic work, are presented for review. Although shown as beingsegregated into chapters in respective rows 18 a and 18 b of the UI 10,the previews may be organized in other fashions, for example in columns,or other manners, or need not be so segregated at all.

The previews 14 a-14 e and 16 a-16 c are thumbnail images of the actualmedia objects which comprise the cards. For example, the cards may bemarkup language (ML) documents and in one embodiment are S9ML documents.S9ML is a platform-agnostic, extensible markup language (XML) andhypertext markup language (HTML)-based specification that semanticallydescribes the content in an electronic work. The electronic work maythus be a graph of content objects (described in S9ML) and the userinterface 10 presents previews of the underlying content objects (inthis case related pages that comprise various chapters) for displayaccording to user-defined criteria. In other instances the media objectsmay be formatted differently, for example as MICROSOFT Corp. WORD®documents (.DOC, .DOCX), Adobe, Inc Portable Document Format (.PDF) orInDesign™ documents, ePub documents, etc.

The previews 14 a-14 e and 16 a-16 c are images and may conform to agraphics interchange (GIF) format, portable network graphics (PNG)format, joint photographic experts group (JPEG) format, exchangeableimage file format (EXIF) format, tagged image file format (TIFF), rawimage format, bitmap (bmp) format, scalable vector graphic (SVG) format,or other image format. These thumbnails are reduced sized versions oflarger images, and may be created from the larger images through imagereduction techniques common in the Web arts. For example, thumbnails maybe created from larger images by reducing the pixel count of the largerimage according to a predetermined algorithm (i.e., scaling the largerimage). Creation of the larger images from the original media objects isdiscussed further below.

Presenting previews of all of the cards which may make up an electronicwork, in the fashion illustrated in FIG. 1A, allows an editor (or otheruser of the content creation and editing tool) to rapidly check thecards for layout errors that may only be viewable when considering thework as a whole. For example, the layout and/or format of cross-chapterfeatures, such as chapter titles, image captions, etc. can be quicklycompared when viewing the cards for an entire work (or at least asignificant portion thereof), as shown in this illustration. If errors(whether layout, formatting or otherwise) are found, the editor canquickly tag the error on the associated thumbnail (or revert to a largerview thereof and tag the larger view) for later correction. Because thepreviews are static image files and not markup language documents, etc.,any notes so appended to the image will be separate therefrom but can beassociated with a coordinate reference (e.g., an (x, y) location) of apoint in the image and thereby indexed to the actual location within theoriginal media object at which the correction needs to be made.

The thumbnail images which comprise previews 14 a-14 e and 16 a-16 c areonly one example of the kind of image previews that can be presented inUI 10. Indeed, user controls provided via UI 10 allow an editor (orother user) to determine what kind of previews will be presented. Forexample, such controls may include a mode selector 20, a target sizeselector 22, a target rendering environment selector 24 and a previewsize selector 26. Selectors 20, 22, 24 and 26 are examples of selectorsfor user-defined presentation criteria for the preview images and invarious embodiments may be used to specify view criteria such as thetarget format in which the previews should be rendered. Examples oftarget formats include those suitable for tablet computer systems (e.g.,Apple, Inc.'s iPAD), smart phones (e.g., Apple, Inc.'s iPHONE, or mobilephones running Google, Inc.'s ANDROID operating system), or web browsersrunning on personal computer systems (e.g., laptop computers, desktopcomputer systems, netbooks, etc.). In the present illustration theselectors are shown as clickable buttons along a toolbar within UI 10,but this is merely one possible instantiation of such controls. In otherinstances, the controls may be implemented as pull down menu items,selectable radio buttons, or other user-selectable elements of UI 10. UI10 also includes a selector 28 for the electronic work of interest. Thisallows an editor (or other user) to rapidly move between different worksand review previews of those different works.

FIG. 1B illustrates the effect of a user changing the preview size usingthe preview size selector 26. Unlike the thumbnail previews 14 a-14 eand 16 a-16 c, which are presented in UI 10 when the preview sizeselector is set for “small” previews, larger size image previews 14a′-14 e′ and 16 a′-16 c′ are displayed when the preview size selector 26is set for display of “medium” size images. Medium size images areimages that are larger than thumbnails but smaller than full card sizeimages. Thus, the medium size previews 14 a′-14 e′ and 16 a′-16 c′ maybe produced from the same full size images from which the thumbnailimages shown in FIG. 1A are produced, but are larger in scale than thosethumbnail images.

FIG. 1C further illustrates the effect of a user changing the previewsize using the preview size selector 26. In this instance, previews 14a″-14 e″ and 16 a″-16 c″, are presented in UI 10 as near-full sizeimages when the preview size selector is set for “medium compare”previews. These near full-size previews are larger than the “medium”size images of FIG. 1B, yet small enough to allow an entire chapter's(or other section's) worth of previews to be presented on a singlescreen. This allows an editor (or other user) to make featurecomparisons across the cards of an entire chapter.

The mode selector 20, allows a user to toggle between a browse mode anda compare mode. In FIGS. 1A-1C, the mode selector was set to “browse”,allowing an editor (or other user) to quickly examine multiple previewsarranged side by side. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate views provided in the“compare” mode. In compare mode a single image preview, in this example,thumbnail 14 b, is selected and corresponding full size image previews34 a, 34 b and 34 c are displayed. Each of the image previews shows thecard represented by thumbnail 14 b as it would appear in a differenttarget rendering environment, as specified by target size selector 22and selection menu 30.

The compare mode recognizes that some instances it may be beneficial foran editor to view the same content as it would appear in differentrendering environments within a single, side-by-side, arrangement. Invarious embodiments, previews for two, three or more renderingenvironments may be presented, displayed side-by-side, in quadrants orin other sections of UI 10, so as to provide the editor a comprehensivelook at how the same content would be formatted across differentenvironments. By providing the editor with the ability to view the samecontent as would be displayed in different rendering environments, thepresent invention allows the editor to make decisions regarding contentlayout rapidly. For example, if text or images are not being rendered asdesired in one set of display parameters or another, the editor canimmediately determine the same and initiate corrections.

In the illustrated example, the target size is one suitable for viewingthe underlying content in a Web browser (e.g., of a personal computer orsimilar platform), and the rendering environments are three differentWeb browsers (such as Microsoft Corporation's INTERNET EXPLORER, Googleinc's. CHROME and Mozilla Foundation's FIREFOX). Image preview 34 acorresponds to the card represented by thumbnail 14 b as it would berendered in a CHROME browser, image preview 34 b corresponds to the cardrepresented by thumbnail 14 b as it would be rendered in a FIREFOXbrowser, and image preview 34 c corresponds to the card represented bythumbnail 14 b as it would be rendered in an INTERNET EXPLORER browser.As shown in FIG. 2B, the previews are scrollable, hence and editor orother user can compare an entire card's worth of content across all ofthese platforms by simply scrolling along the length of the previews(e.g., vertically).

Within the compare mode, thumbnail previews representing cards ofdifferent chapters (or other sections of an electronic content work) canbe selected using section selector 32. Preferably, all of thethumbbnails for a given chapter (or other section) are presented in asingle row 36, which may be laterally scrollable, if necessary.

Turing now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, examples of different views providedthrough toggling of the target size selector 22 are shown. In theseillustrations, thumbnail previews 14 a-14 e and 16 a-16 c are presentedin UI 10 in browse mode and thumbnail 14 e has been selected by aneditor (or other user) for further inspection. Such selection causes afull size image preview 38 to be displayed in a right hand side frame40. Image preview 38 is scrollable (so as to permit viewing of theentirety of the content of the card which it represents) and its size isdetermined by the setting of target size selector 22. In FIG. 3A, thetarget size selector 22 is set for Web-based content viewing, and soimage 38 is one that is sized appropriately for such a platform (e.g., aWeb browser on a personal computer or the like). In FIG. 3B, the targetsize selector 22 is set for viewing on a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone) and so image preview 38′ is one that is sized appropriately forsuch an environment. In this example, the image preview 38′ is narrowerthan image preview 38, although both represent the same card.

Although not shown in detail in these illustrations, target renderingenvironment selector 24 may be used to present full sized image previewsof a selected thumbnail as appropriate for different renderingenvironments (e.g., INTERNET EXPLORER, CHROME, FIREFOX, etc.). Further,an editor mode selector 42 can be used to rapidly switch, in context,from the image preview UI 10 to a different user interface which wouldpermit actual editing of the underlying media object associated withimage 38, 38′. In this way, errors or other items can be immediatelycorrected. Of course, where such correction is not appropriate or wouldrequire more time than is available to the editor or other user,facilities may be provided for the editor to tag items requiring latercorrection. As indicated above, these tags may be in the form ofnotations associated with the image previews and indexed according to afixed coordinate reference within a coordinate system of the preview sothat the point at which the corrections specified in the notation needto be made may be immediately identifiable and transferable to theunderlying media object.

Throughout the description thus far it has been noted that the imagespresented to the editor (or other user) in UI 10 are just that, images.The previews are created from the underlying media objects (e.g., cards)by rendering the media objects in a simulated target renderingenvironment and capturing a screenshot or equivalent image. For example,and referring to FIG. 4, in a process 44 for producing preview images amedia object is first provided to a simulator. The simulator may behosted locally with the content creation and editing tool or may behosted remotely therefrom. In one embodiment, the simulator isconfigured as one or more virtual machines running on one or moreservers, each virtual machine providing a target rendering environmentwithin which the media object is rendered. For example, the virtualmachines may emulate personal, tablet or other computer systems runningvarious Web browsers and/or smart phones running mobile Web browser ordedicated reader applications. Of course, other target renderingenvironments may also be emulated in this fashion.

The subject media object is then rendered in one or more of the targetrendering environments 48. This may involve, for example, displaying acard of an electronic work in a Web browser, a reader application, orboth. Optionally, at 50, a user may interact with the media object as itis rendered in the target rendering environment. For example, if themedia object includes dynamic elements such as slide shows, guidedtours, etc., the user may manipulate the media object (or dynamicelements thereof) to place the media object in a desired state (e.g.,displaying a second stage and the associated images of a guided tour,for example). For each such state, one or more preview images arecaptured and saved 52, and this procedure repeats 54 until all suchimage previews have been obtained. Preferably, this process 44 is anautomated one (in which case the manipulation of the media objects todesired states may be performed according to programmatic control of therendering environment) but semi-automated or manual image previewcapture processes may also be employed. The saved image previews arethen made available to the content creation and editing tool (e.g., froma database of image previews) and presented via UI 10 as describedabove.

In some embodiments, the image preview creation process may run inresponse to user command, on a periodic or other set basis, or may evenrun on a per-media object basis each time a change to a media object ismade and/or saved as part of an overall editing process. In this way, acollection of image previews showing different versions of a media cardas the card is edited over time may be captured and stored, allowing aneditor or other user of the content creation and editing tool to quicklycompare newer versions of a media object with older versions thereof. Inaddition to the HTML and other markup language cards discussed above,media objects for which image previews may be captured may include oneor more text, graphic and visual elements.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a content creation and editing tool1000, which may include user interface tools such as those describedabove. The various components of the system 1000 may be connected toeach other directly or through a network. For example, one or morecontent creators 1010 and one or more content editors 1020 or othercontributors may utilize computing devices to interface with the system1000 through network 1030. Network 1030 may include any electronicnetwork that allows content creators 1010 and content editors 1020 toaccess the components of the system 1000. For example, one or moreportions of network 1030, or network 1105 (which may be the same ordifferent network as network 1030) may be an ad hoc network, anintranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local areanetwork (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), awireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), acellular telephone network, another type of network, or a combination oftwo or more such networks, or the like. While certain components of FIG.5 may be shown as directly connected, they may also be connected througha network, such as a network similar to networks 1030 and 1105. Forexample, asset management component 1050, content management component1060, defect tracking component 1070, quality assessment component 1080,project management component 1085, publishing pipeline 1090, electronicstore 1100, and integration component 1040 may be connected directly,through a network, or through a combination of direct or networkconnections. Furthermore, while each component is logically separatedfrom the other components for convenient description, it should berecognized that some or all of the functionality of one component mightbe performed by a different component.

Integration component 1040 may be a network-addressable component, whichmay provide a user interface that allows contributors, including contentcreators 1010 and content editors 1020, to interface with the rest ofthe system. In some examples, the interface may be a graphical userinterface (GUI) that may allow content editors 1020 or othercontributors to view, edit, and manage various portions of electroniccontent in the manners described above, e.g., using content tools 1045.Thus, content tools 1045 may include editing interfaces in which thecontent displayed on the screen includes preview images captured so thatthe cards, which the previews represent, appear in a form closelycorresponding to their appearance in the target rendering environment,and according to user-specified criteria. Integration component 1040 mayalso facilitate communication between other various components of thesystem 1000. For example, integration component 1040 may direct one ormore of the other components to take some action, communicate withanother component, relay information between components, or the like.

In one example, integration component 1040 may be located on one or morecomputer systems accessible by content creators 1010 and content editors1020 through network 1030. In yet other examples, integration component1040 may be locally executable on computer terminals of contributorssuch as content creators 1010 and editors 1020 and may utilize network1030 to access the other components of the system 1000. In yet otherexamples, integration component 1040 may include components executableon both the computer terminals of content creators 1010 and editors 1020as well as pieces accessible and executing on a remote server accessibleover network 1030.

In some examples, integration component 1040 may interface with assetmanagement component 1050 in order to facilitate the presentation of theelectronic content work from a number of content portions. Contentportions may be any audio, visual, audiovisual, text, or other contentthat is intended to be merged with other content portions into anelectronic content work. Content portions may also be referred to as“assets.” Asset management component 1050 may be a network-addressablecomponent, which, in conjunction with integration component 1040, mayallow for the management of the content creation process by managing thesubmission, modification, and integration of various component portionsof the electronic content. This creation management process may includeindexing and tracking submitted components, identifying missing content,assigning sections of missing content to one or more contributors, andmanaging the integration of submitted content into a complete or nearlycomplete version of the electronic content work. In some examples, theasset management component 1050 may implement version tracking to trackchanges made to the component content portions.

Once the contributors are satisfied with the draft of the electronicwork, the work may be submitted to the content management component1060. In some examples, defect tracking through the defect-trackingcomponent 1070 may also begin. Integration component 1040 may thencoordinate the delivery of the content from the asset managementcomponent 1050 to the content management component 1060 (if necessary),coordinate starting of the version control of the work as a whole (insome examples, versions may be managed on the content portions and thework as a whole simultaneously), and coordinate starting the defecttracking process. Editors 1020 or other contributors may then beginediting the electronic content, for example using the user interfacetools described above.

Defect tracking component 1070 may be a network-addressable component,which, in conjunction with integration component 1040, may includetools, which allow users to open defects, track defects, fix defects,and close defects found in electronic content. For example, an editormay be reviewing the content through content tools 1045 and may opendefects by selecting or otherwise indicating the defect in the contentitself and entering information about what is defective. Content tools1045 may then pass this information to the defect-tracking component,which may open a defect. In other examples, defects may be opened by thequality assessment (QA) component 1080 as a result of automatic contentchecks performed by the quality assessment component 1080. The QAcomponent may send a message to the defect-tracking component 1070 withinformation on the defect, and the defect-tracking component 1070 mayopen the defect.

In some examples, user access control may be implemented through variouspermission-based rules. In one example, users (e.g., contributors) maybelong to one or more groups of users and content may be organized intoone or more groups. User groups may be given access to one or morecontent groups. Each user group may have one or more users, and eachcontent group may have one or more content portions. In other examples,each user is individually given access to various portions of content orgroups of portions of content. A user or group of users may be grantedread, write, delete, or other access types to a portion of the contentor a content group.

In some examples, integration component 1040 also includes a devicesimulator, which may provide the previews described herein. Since theelectronic content may be targeted to multiple and disparate electronicdevice platforms, and since the content may not be rendered identicallyacross disparate electronic device platforms, integration component 1040may include a device simulator which allows the contributor to build thecontent locally (or allows integration component 1040 to interface withthe publishing pipeline 1090 to build the content) for the particulardesired target electronic device and through an emulator running in thesystem preview how the content will look and react to input and otherstimuli. The emulator emulates the environment of the target electronicdevice so the contributor will have an accurate representation of howthe electronic content performs on the target electronic device.

Project management component 1085 may be a network-addressable componentand may integrate with integration component 1040 or other components ofsystem 1000 to control and store data related to project management ofone or more electronic works. Once the content is ready for publication,one or more of the contributors may publish the electronic content work.Publication (or “building” the content) is a process by which a formatindependent representation of the content is transformed into a formatdependent representation of the content. For example, the content may becustomized for a particular client device (e.g., an iPAD). This processmay be done through the integration component 1040, and the publishingpipeline 1090 may build content. Once the electronic content has beenbuilt by the publishing pipeline 1090, the publishing pipeline maydistribute the published content, for example by interfacing with theelectronic store 1100, which may then make the content available fordownload by an end-user 1110 on an electronic device over a network1105.

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. An example of a processor based systemsuitable for such configuration and operation is shown in FIG. 6. Inother examples, however, the methods described herein may be at leastpartially performed by processors deployed across a number of machines,e.g., in a “cloud computing” environment or as “software as a service”(SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed bya group of computers (as examples of machines including processors),these operations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) andvia one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., Application ProgramInterfaces (APIs).)

Computer system 10000, shown in FIG. 6, within which a set ofinstructions for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethods, processes, operations, or methodologies discussed herein mayoperate as a stand-alone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate inthe capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. Various instantiations of computer system 10000 maybe servers or clients.

The example computer system 10000 includes a processor 10002 (e.g., aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 10001 and a static memory 10006, which communicatewith each other via a bus 10008. The computer system 10000 may furtherinclude a video display unit 10010 (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)or a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)). The computer system 10000 also includes analphanumeric input device 10012 (e.g., a keyboard), a User Interface(UI) cursor controller 10014 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 10016, asignal generation device 10018 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interfacedevice 10020 (e.g., a transmitter).

The disk drive unit 10016 includes a machine-readable medium 10022 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions 10024 and datastructures (e.g., software) embodying or used by any one or more of themethodologies or functions illustrated herein. The software may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 10001and/or within the processor 10002 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 10000, the main memory 10001 and the processor 10002also constituting machine-readable media.

The instructions 10024 may further be transmitted or received over anetwork 10026 via the network interface device 10020 using any one of anumber of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., HTTP, Session InitiationProtocol (SIP)).

The term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a singlemedium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets ofinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken toinclude any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying aset of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause themachine to perform any of the one or more of the methodologiesillustrated herein. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordinglybe taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, andoptical and magnetic medium.

Method embodiments illustrated herein may be computer-implemented. Someembodiments may include computer-readable media encoded with a computerprogram (e.g., software), which includes instructions operable to causean electronic device to perform methods of various embodiments. Asoftware implementation (or computer-implemented method) may includemicrocode, assembly language code, or a higher-level language code,which further may include computer readable instructions for performingvarious methods. The code may form portions of computer programproducts. Further, the code may be tangibly stored on one or morevolatile or non-volatile computer-readable media during execution or atother times. These computer-readable media may include, but are notlimited to, hard disks, removable magnetic disks, removable opticaldisks (e.g., compact disks and digital video disks), magnetic cassettes,memory cards or sticks, Random Access Memories (RAMs), Read OnlyMemories (ROMs), and the like.

Thus, systems and methods for creating and displaying previews, forexample in the form of images, of content items of electronic works, andin particular such displays as provide for one or more users, in asingle screen view, the ability to quickly review and compare layouts,formats and other attributes of content items from a single work ormultiple works so as to permit the user(s) a convenient way to assessthe content items as part of an editing process have been described.

1.-19. (canceled)
 20. A computer-implemented method comprising:launching an editing application and opening an electronic content workin the editing application; receiving one or more edits to theelectronic content work via the editing application; receiving a userinput designating a related plurality of pages of the electronic contentwork, the electronic content work having a hierarchical organization andcomprising the related plurality of pages, and wherein the pages arerelated because they comprise a group defined by the hierarchicalorganization of the electronic content work; displaying, responsive tothe user input, the designated plurality of pages within a single viewon a display of a computer system, the single view presenting renderedpages in a manner appropriate for one or more target renderingenvironments, according to user-specified display criteria, wherein thedisplayed pages incorporate the one or more edits.
 21. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the displayed plurality of pages comprises a pluralityof previews of one or more dynamic media elements, the respective viewscaptured when the one or more dynamic media elements were rendered in asimulated target rendering environment.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein the previews comprise images of the dynamic media elements indesired states captured during rendering of the dynamic media elementsin the simulated target rendering environment.
 23. The method of claim20, wherein the single view presents the designated plurality of pagesaccording to user-defined size criteria.
 24. The method of claim 20,further comprising, responsive to user manipulation of at least onepresentation criterion for the designated plurality of pages,reformatting the single view according to a new one or more user-definedpresentation criteria and presenting the pages in a manner appropriateto the new one or more user-defined presentation criteria on the displayof the computer system.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the new oneor more user-defined presentation criteria comprises one or more of acontent work viewing mode, a target rendering environment size, a targetrendering environment, a preview image size.
 26. The method of claim 20,further comprising associating a notation with an element within one ofthe designated plurality of pages, the notation facilitating laterediting of the associated one of the pages.
 27. A computer-based systemcomprising: a server, implemented using one or more processors andconfigured to: present, via a communicatively coupled client, an editingapplication, and open an electronic content work in the editingapplication; receive, via the editing application, a first user inputcomprising one or more edits to the electronic content work; receive,via the editing application, a second user input designating a relatedplurality of pages of the electronic content work, the electroniccontent work having a hierarchical organization and comprising therelated plurality of pages, and wherein the pages are related becausethey comprise a group defined by the hierarchical organization of theelectronic content work; display, via the editing application andresponsive to the user input, the designated plurality of pages within asingle view on a display of a computer system, the single viewpresenting rendered pages in a manner appropriate for one or more targetrendering environments, according to user-specified display criteria,wherein the displayed pages incorporate the one or more edits.
 28. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the server is further configured to,responsive to user manipulation of at least one presentation criterionfor the designated plurality of pages, reformat the view according to anew one or more user-defined presentation criteria and present the pagesin a manner appropriate to the new one or more user-defined presentationcriteria for display on the client.
 29. The system of claim 28, whereinthe new one or more user-defined presentation criteria comprises one ormore of a content work viewing mode, a target rendering environmentsize, a target rendering environment, and a preview image size.
 30. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the server is further configured toassociate a notation with one of the designated plurality of pages, thenotation facilitating later the associated one of the pages.
 31. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: launching an editing applicationand opening an electronic content work in the editing application;receiving one or more edits to the electronic content work via theediting application; receiving a user input designating a relatedplurality of pages of the electronic content work, the electroniccontent work having a hierarchical organization and comprising therelated plurality of pages, and wherein the pages are related becausethey a group defined by the hierarchical organization of the electroniccontent work; displaying, responsive to the user input, the designatedplurality of pages within a single view on a display of a computersystem as two or more groupings, the single view presenting renderedpages such that the pages in each respective grouping are the designatedplurality of pages rendered according to a different target renderingenvironment, according to user-specified display criteria, and whereinthe displayed pages incorporate the one or more edits.
 32. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 31, wherein the designatedplurality of pages comprises one or more dynamic media elements, andeach target rendering environment represents a computer-based platformfor presenting one or more dynamic media elements.
 33. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 31, wherein the displayed pluralityof pages comprises a plurality of previews of one or more dynamic mediaelements, the respective views captured when the one or more dynamicmedia elements were rendered in a respective target renderingenvironment.
 34. The computer-implemented method of claim 31, whereinthe view presents the displayed plurality of pages according touser-defined size criteria.
 35. The computer-implemented method of claim31, further comprising, responsive to user manipulation of at least onepresentation criterion for the displayed plurality of pages,reformatting the view according to a new one or more user-definedpresentation criteria and displaying pages appropriate to the new one ormore user-defined presentation criteria on the display of the computersystem.